Sober Living for the Revolution – Hardcore Punk, Straight Edge and Radical Politics – Gabriel Kuhn
Trust Fanzine
Posted in bücher by Dolf
August 2010
I’m
sure this will not be the last book about “Straight Edge” – but at
least this one is broaden its horizont… not only about SxE but also
about Hardcore Punk and Radical Politics. Lets see. It is seperated in 5
chapters: Bands, Scenes, Manifestos, Reflections and Perspectives. The
“Timeline” given is helpful to understand when it all started and how it
developed. The introduction by the author makes also sense.
The
first interview is with Ian MacKaye, not sure why other had to follow,
but they do… some of them are interesting. I kinda like the Refused
interview, because he (Dennis) gets away with what he is doing (or not)
cuz none of the “wrong” questions have been asked. Other bands featured
ManLiftingBanner, Point of No Return and New Winds. Featured scenes are
Israel, Sweden, Poland, Usa – talks to several people about how strong
the movement is/was and such. The “Manifestos” are more interesting as
one can tell from the titles alone: “Antifa Straight Edge”, “Anarchy and
Alcohol”, “Sobriety and Anarchist Struggle”, on with the “Reflections”
from Nick Riotfag, Jenni Ramme (Emancypunx), Kelly (xsisterhood) and
Andy Hurley on Anarcho-Primitivism and the Collapse and some more
“Perspectives” by some people where Mark Andersen should be mentioned. I
could comment almost all of these authors/activists, some of them have
very good and true things to say and it is good that all the bad aspcets
of Straight Edge (wrong reasons, macho/jock attitude, conservative,
etc.) are also mentioned.
But I will not use up too much
space/time… so all you get to hear is that Nick Riotfag is hilarious in
his thinking and his demands (sober spaces for anarchist queers – if he
gets them, he complains they are too boring), that Jonathan Pollack is
not afraid of saying things some people will call anti-zionist. And Andy
Hurley (Fall Out Boy) should not appear in MTVs Cribs and show off his
house, cars, golden records, etc. when he thinks about radical politics,
less thinking and more action could help ( I have to mention that he
did also say he is vegan and showed some processed vegan food – yeah
right….). Otherwise you hear all about hardline and christian edge and
all that other blablabla one can talk or think about.
Don’t get
me wrong, I have nothing against people who stay sober and healty but a
lot of times that alone is not enough, or does not necessarly have
something to do with “radical politics” nor are “radical politics” in
general good – or bad. People can talk about all these subjects forever,
if they like, I would people much rather see and stick to their words.
It does not matter so much what you think, do, write, sing about – what
matters is what one DOES.
Some good reading, if you are into this
and/or want some brainfood, go for it. 352 pages, paperback.
